Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (or SEO) is the process of adjusting and maintaining your site so that search engines can easily find, and index your site based on the categories that are relevant to your business.
Why do I need Search Engine Optimization?
Search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc. exist to provide the most relevant pages to user searches, and they have created a variety of algorithms to make sure their results are consistently reliable. These algorithms are updated frequently as the web grows and evolves.
Sites that aren’t optimized for search engines risk being treated as irrelevant in the subject matter they specialize in. This means your site gets buried deep in search engine results and leads to a much smaller population of potential customers.
SEO involves understanding the algorithms used by Google and others and using reliable, ethical strategies to make sure search engines read your site as effectively as possible.
How much can Search Engine Optimization impact my site?
AOL recently published a significant amount of data on click through rates for search engine results on their sites. The chart to the right shows the results for a typical large site in their results.
AOL discovered that being ranked #1 on a search engine result increases clicks by more than 1400% over a site ranked #10. Even a site ranked #2 only receives about a third of the traffic of the number one ranking. Obviously your organization has a lot to gain by working to optimize your site for search engine traffic.
Good SEO vs. Bad SEO
As long as search engines have been indexing pages, web designers have been looking for ways to exploit search engines to get ahead. Rather than relying on the consistent, proven but longer-term methods for naturally improving search engine ranking over time, they try to cheat the system by creating keyword-rich but useless sites that benefit no one but themselves. Thankfully search engines are extremely vigilant about monitoring these tactics, adjusting their algorithms and penalizing unethical SEO “professionals”.
Unfortunately, these organizations have sometimes given SEO a bad name. The fact is there are many reputable search engine optimization firms who help organizations tailor their sites the way Google and other search engines want to see them. They rely on proven, systematic techniques that search engines themselves suggest to improve site ranking.
Intentionally’s Search Engine Optimization Process
Intentionally won’t suggest that we can get you a front-page ranking instantly. We know that making such a promise is dishonest and extremely difficult to do using ethical practices. Instead, we partner with our clients over time, adjusting their sites and making suggestions alongside them to create a site that will be positioned well for the future, regardless of changes in search engine algorithms.